A Toastmasters Meeting in Three Acts, & a Contest that Inspires

Stan Coss served as the Toastmaster for an unconventional meeting, divided into three “acts.”

Don Glovan was Act One, delivering his dynamic leadership pathways speech entitled, “The Honeymoon from Hell.”   Don related the story of how he met his wife when they were both teenagers and their Jamaican honeymoon with him being 18 and naïve.  He was learning how to navigate in life after growing up in a small rural town.  He gave a vivid account his wife’s experience going through illness and going to a local doctor in Jamaica.  To their credit, this couple is still going strong 45 years later.

Here Don Glovan prepares for his Act III impromptu table topic.

Jeanne gave the evaluation of Don’s speech.  She praised how the chronology made his speech easy to follow, and noted his good eye contact.  She recommended moving around the stage more, and gave suggestions about how to inject more humor into the speech.  Members of the audience offered other suggestions and compliments to Don.

Act two!  We broke into three small groups and Stan provided each of us with a joke on an index card.  We had to imagine ourselves as one of the characters in the joke and expound upon it when it was our turn to speak. 

Act Three began with filling in the blanks for strategies on how to master table topics.   Stan quoted from a book about impromptu speaking.   Each table had a box with easy and harder table topics cards in it, which could be answered directly or provide the choice to pivot. 

Members present were the following: Michael Thompson, Ron Climer, Susann Swan, Stan Coss, Amy Sahf, Melinda Lowrance, Karla Reese, Don Glovan, Jeanne Resen, Joseph Girmann, Betty McCallister, Judy Groff, Don Groff, Sally Jones, and Guest Merle Braley.

And the Winner Is . . . .

The International Speech Contest and the Table Topics Contest were held on March 9th at IAM, the Interfaith Assistance Ministry.  L to R are Jeanne Resen, Ron Climer, Judy Groff, Sally Jones, and Amy Sahf. 

Stan Coss served as Sergeant at Arms/Contest Chair and called the event to order at 9:40 am.  Contest Master Don Groff explained the rules of the competition and proceeded to introduce each speaker.

The inspirational speech for the international competition featured seasoned Toastmasters: Judy Groff, Sally Jones, Jeanne Resen, and Ron Climer.

Judy Groff used a Dr. Seuss book as a parable to explain how she overcame fears to recover her health after being diagnosed with MS.  She spoke of the variety of activities she does and the support team she has assembled to help her thrive, and encouraged the audience to live their lives fully.

Sally Jones told the vivid story of her Pennsylvania ancestors’ encounters with Indians centuries ago.  Some were murdered and others were spared because of their blue eyes and their peach crop.

Jeanne Resen presented the topic of forgiveness, its various forms, and the importance of forgiveness in our lives.  She used religious as well as pragmatic examples to urge the audience to make forgiveness a regular part of their lives.

Ron Climer spoke about things he has learned in his life:   from books read to education to just plain hard work, Ron explained how hard work pays off, sometimes in unusual ways.

The judges had the daunting task of evaluating these very diverse topics to choose a winner to proceed to the area competition.   They chose Ron at first, Jeanne at second, and Judy at third.  There were three contestants in the Table Topics competition:  Judy Groff, Ron Climer, and Amy Sahf.  The judges deemed Judy as the winner.

   Here are the first place winners, Ron and Judy, that will represent us at the area contest 

on 3-22 at Mission Hospital.

  

Members present were the following:  Judy Groff, Don Groff, Ron Climer, Jeanne Resen, Sally Jones, Amy Sahf, Susann Swan, Stan Coss, and Carol Walters.  Guests were Warren Resen, John Bowen, and Joshua Karpee.

Thanks to IAM for use of such a wonderful facility!  Inside is at least as impressive as outside.  Thanks to Melinda Lowrance for making the arrangements to use this facility 

for our second contest in a row.